An approach that Turns the tables on Classroom confusion

Her mom was a teacher, so Jennifer Rolf knew it was something she wanted to do when she grew up, but her purpose in teaching crystallized when she was in the fourth grade.

“(I was) working on my multiplication tables and I had a teacher who had very little patience with her students in that area, and I just remember thinking, ‘Nobody should have to feel like this,’” she said. “I was 10 or 9, so my first real frustration was in fourth grade. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is going to be a rough year.’”

She said she never wanted a child to feel the way she felt then – lost, confused, frustrated – so she worked on finding strategies and techniques to help her students understand concepts. Today, Rolf is 48 and teaches eighth-grade algebra and physical science at Pepper Drive School in Santee. She’s been teaching for 23 years and was named Pepper Drive’s teacher of the year for 2011-2012 school year. She was shocked when she found out she’d been chosen.

“I think after 23 years, it was an affirmation that as an educator, that I’m continuing to grow,” she said. “It would be easy after 23 years to just keep doing what I’ve always done, and that’s not my style. It’s that I’ve got a child in this classroom that I’ve got to figure out how to reach.”

Rolf enjoys the challenges of her work and the excitement that those challenges provide each day. Perhaps the strategy she’s chosen to teach a certain concept isn’t going to work one day. Then, she’ll try something else. She’s always trying to show them multiple ways to get a math answer so that they’ll feel powerful, she said.

In science, she wants to get students excited about the subject and learning about it. The tough part can be getting kids passionate about the material and creating a desire to learn about math and science.

“I find that the challenge is stirring that inner interest of, ‘You know what? Algebra’s not so bad. This is exciting. Maybe I want a career in this... What can I do with this? Where can I take this?’” she said.

One of the best parts of her job is when students come back after starting high school and thank her for preparing them, whether they felt prepared in math, science or socially. Another is when they arrive at school early or stay late to get extra help.

“That’s the affirmation that you’re doing a great job,” she said. “I really value my relationships with my students and I think that those are those great moments when they come in and they just trust that you’re going to be there for them.”

Do you know of a teacher who should be in the spotlight? Contact Lisa Deaderick at (619) 293-2503, or lisa.deaderick@utsandiego.com